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Criminals are stupid.

You'd think after this long, they'd be better at hiding. Then again, none of them ever saw me coming. I became a bounty hunter at nineteen years old. Thanks to my lioness, I was built and bred to hunt. I never missed my mark. Sometimes I almost wished they'd give me a challenge. Because this was just ridiculous.

He wasn't even trying. He was just walking down the road with a few of his buddies. Did he really think he could just skip bail and get away with it?

Again. Criminals are stupid.

Sliding off the front of my car, I strode down the alley to cut him off. Knowing Roman, he was likely armed. His friends probably were too. If they were anything but human, I might proceed with more caution. But Roman was also an idiot, and quick to panic. I knew what he'd do once he saw me. And it wasn't shoot.

Leaning casually against the wall at the mouth of the alley, I watched and waited. He didn't even notice me at first, not until I spoke.

"Skipping bail again, Ro-Ro? You know you're only asking for more trouble, right?"

He froze, his eyes darting around. When they landed on me, I saw the panic pop up. He didn't even hesitate, taking off in a dead run in the opposite direction.

"Idiot."

His friends scattered, showing how little loyalty these thugs really had for each other. I ignored them because I didn't have a contract for them. I was only interested in Roman. I sprinted after him, a smirk pulling at my lips. Both me and my lioness loved this part. The chase was the fun part. It made the job interesting. Following Roman's scent, I dodged through traffic and down some alleys. He was weaving, trying to throw me off his trail. Little did he know, I didn't need to see him to follow him. That stupid cologne he dumped on by the bottle led the way just fine.

We hit a dead end, a tall chain-link fence blocking the end of the alley. Roman tried to climb it, but I caught up before he could get a good grip. Grabbing the back of his shirt, I tugged hard, and he yelped as he hit the ground. I had the cuffs out and his arms behind his back before he could even attempt to get back to his feet.

"Oh, come on! I didn't do anything! I'm innocent!"

"Save that for the judge, numbnuts. I'm not interested."

He trudged along, dragging his feet as I frog marched him to my car, whining the entire way. Curious people crowded the sidewalks, blocking my way a few times during the trip back. None of them were Roman's friends, though. So sad. Truly. I was tearful over it. Not.

Roman protested when I opened the back of my car, wriggling, but he wasn't putting any genuine effort into it. He knew he wasn't going anywhere. I had never had a mark get past me before, and Roman was too thick to outsmart me.

"I'm honestly surprised they let you out on bail this time," I commented as I pushed him into the back, careful to protect his head. I had some criminals claim excessive force when I was picking them up before. It didn't change their fates, but it was a pain in the ass to deal with all the paperwork.

"Helps when your cousin is a lawyer," he said with a grin.

"Your cousin who was picked up yesterday for falsifying evidence?"

Roman's face fell.

"Yeah, I was there when he was brought in. Looks like this time, you'll be stuck with a public defender. I wonder if they'll be able to get you out."

The answer to that was an easy no. Public defenders were overworked and underpaid. They weren't going to put in a ton of effort to put a criminal who skipped bail on the regular back on the streets. They had better things to do.

I turned up the music on the ride back to drown out Roman's whining. The volume was killer on my sensitive hearing, shifters had better senses than humans, but it was better than listening to the pissant in the back seat whine about how unfair I was being. Fairness wasn't part of my job. I picked them up, brought them in, and got paid. The fairness could be handled by the legal system. There were plenty of people who had it way worse than Roman and his little cronies.

My mind flicked to Talia automatically. My sister had it worse than I ever knew. I knew it was bad. Being part of the pride meant she was basically living in a cult and she was forced to make cubs for the alpha, but I didn't realize how bad until recently. She chose to hide the part where she was mistreated worse than everyone else, solely because she was related to me. I ran to escape the fate she resigned herself to, and they punished her for it. The panic and self loathing I felt when she finally admitted that was so intense, I couldn't look her in the eye. Hell, I couldn't stay in the same state. I ran again, like a fucking coward, this time from the only family I had left in the world.

With a sharp shake of my head, I dislodged the thought from my head. I was working, and I needed to focus. Talia was well looked after, protected by a freaking dragon and a crew of apex predator shifters. She'd be fine without me. I never planned on staying forever. I was going to be there long enough for her to get comfortable before going back to my job. I stayed longer than I expected, trying to fix her. I would've left sooner if I'd known I was part of the reason she was broken.

When we arrived at the police station, Roman's whines turned high pitched and really annoying. I let him because it distracted me from thinking about what a fuck up I was in my family. Even my nephew couldn't stand me. Leaving was for the best. I put it out of my head, dragging Roman from the car when he tried to go dead weight to avoid heading inside. Shifters were also blessed with increased strength, so it didn't really affect me.

"Come on, Kiara! Have a little compassion! I was just doin' my job!"

"Again, I don't care. My job is to get you back to jail where you belong. Do me a favor and stay there this time. I'm getting tired of chasing you down."

"So then don't!" he pleaded. "Just let me go and you'll never have to see me again. Please?"

I rolled my eyes, hauling him inside despite his feet dragging on the ground. An officer who knew me, Palmer, came to help me when she noticed my fake struggle, I couldn't let it look too early or humans would get suspicious, taking Roman's other arm and forcing him over to booking.

Once Roman was handed off and the paperwork was done, I called my boss to let him know. He was a fair employer, paid decent enough, and he liked me because I always got the job done. He didn't even pretend he didn't know why I was calling anymore.

"I've got another job for you," he said in lieu of a greeting.

"Hi, Walker. Nice to hear from you too. Yeah, I got the bad guy. He's in police custody now. That's what you wanted to hear from me, yeah?"

"Cut the shit, Kiara," he scoffed. "I knew you had him. You don't call me unless the job is done. Do you want the new one or not?"

"How much?"

No need to play the game at this point. I had a minimum for jobs I'd take. I wasn't doing the work unless I was guaranteed a decent payout. If Walker was offering it to me, it had to make the cut. Leave the lower payouts to the baby recovery agents.

"It's a doozy. He had a $500,000 bail on him. You pull this off, you'll make a decent paycheck. But it ain't gonna be easy."

Yeah, no shit. If the bail was set that high, the guy was obviously dangerous. Or he had friends in high places. Either way, he was going to be trouble. Luckily, I liked the challenge.

"I'll come by, get the information."

"I knew I could count on you. I don't trust anyone else to get the job done. Make sure you're armed for this one. The guy had serious mafia vibes, if you know what I mean."

"Sounds like a good time. See you in a bit."

I hung up, pausing to stare at my phone before tucking it back in my pocket. I hadn't called Talia since I left. I knew she was struggling, that coming back from the mess she was in would take years, not weeks, but I didn't know what the hell to say to her. Sorry my selfishness got you hurt? My bad?

Until I could figure out some way to make it up to her, I couldn't make myself press the call button. She was better off without me. She had people there now who were a lot more supportive and patient than I was. They'd take care of her. I made sure she was safe before I left. There wasn't much else I could do. She was better off without the constant reminder of the reason she suffered. Her life would've sucked if I'd stayed in the pride, but at least she would've been treated the same as everyone else.

Sighing, I waved at Palmer on my way out and headed for my car. There was nothing I could do about that now. When I left, I went straight back to the life I knew. The life where I was constantly on the move, chasing bad guys and getting paid for it. It wasn't what anyone could call stable, and it wasn't safe. But it was better than living in a cult. And for most of my life, that was all I needed.